Photograph (Shut Up And Kiss Me)
by brittanablades
Summary: Kitty doesn't remember why she took the old box out of her closet. She could've been cleaning up her closet before she left for college, or picking out clothes that still fit. Or maybe she was just looking for some memories, searching for something that proved she was actually alive. Either way, she felt compelled to open the box to survey the inside. {[(Karley, first date fluff)]}


_In which Kitty reminisces about her first date with one Marley Rose. Karley one-shot. Mostly fluff._

_Rated__: K+, or maybe T for very small amounts of kissing._

_Summary__: Kitty doesn't remember why she took the old box out of her closet. She could've been cleaning up her closet before she left for college, or picking out clothes that still fit and wanted to keep with her. Or maybe she was just looking for some memories, searching for something that proved she was actually alive. Either way, she felt compelled to open the box to survey the inside._

_Word Count__: 2,546 words_

**_Anonymous prompted:_******_**Marley & Kitty first date**_

_A/N: Wow it took me a really long time to actually come around and write this for you that prompt was from forever and a day ago but I figured I might as well as something to read as you continue to wait for chapter 3 of Scars (ahhhh its taking so long I know I'm sorry) so here you go! Please enjoy this and tell me what you think? Please?_

_P.S.: This is unbeta'd, so knowing me, expect random accidental changes in tenses and POVs._

* * *

Kitty doesn't remember why she took the old, dusty box out of her old, musty closet. She could've been cleaning it up before she left for college, or picking out clothes that still fit and wanted to keep with her. Maybe she was looking for something, and found the box instead. Or maybe… maybe she was just looking for some memories, searching for something, _anything_, that proved she was actually alive. Either way, she felt compelled to slide the box out and open it to survey the inside.

It's not as heavy as she expects. With contrast, it's actually quite light. When she holds it, she feels overwhelmed. The box felt important in her hands, and suddenly became heavy in her eyes. Sitting on her bed, Kitty raises a trembling hand and lifts up the flaps delicately. Her dainty hands reach in to pull out an envelope and a picture frame. She sets the box and frame aside and unfolds the envelope, which is labeled with a goofy heart, to reveal its contents.

A black and white photograph. It doesn't take long for Kitty to recognize it as a candid of herself. It's perfect; the lighting causes contrast in all the right places and the camera is completely focused. She immediately falls in love with it. However, one thing bothers her. Who took this, and when? Looking at a second one, Kitty certainly doesn't remember doing anything like a photo shoot, especially not in the snow (she would remember – even if she hated the stuff once upon a time, she loves it now), and this picture only looks a couple years old.

Suddenly, Kitty remembers the picture frame and grasps it firmly to study it and see if it holds the answer to her questions.

When her brain finally catches up with her eyes, Kitty clasps a hand over her mouth and lets a tear slide down her cheek.

The picture is from her first date with Marley Rose.

* * *

_**{[(**__three years earlier__**)]}**_

_Knock knock._

Kitty rapped her knuckles against the door again, shuddering and crossing her arms in the cold. For a moment, she considers turning around, going home and forgetting she ever asked for this night. She can text Marley some lame exercised excuse for not being able to come, and simply go to bed. She can go back to pretending… pretending that she wanted nothing to do with Marley (when all she really wants is the opposite). _Too late now,_ she thinks, as she sees a flash of brown hair rushing by a small window on the side of the house.

"Coming!" She heard from the other side of the door, followed by quick footsteps. The door opens to reveal a glowing Marley, standing there and smiling like a dork in the cutest way Kitty's ever seen. She grins widely back at her.

"Hey."

"Hey, you're here early," Marley states, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, uh, yeah…" Now it's Kitty's turn to smile ridiculously. Her original smile turns even further up her cheeks as she blushes furiously and tries to look Marley in the eyes. The beautiful, vibrant blue eyes that made her fall in love with the brunette in the first place. Wait, love? What…? Whatever. "… I didn't want to be late for this."

Marley laughs; "I'll be ready soon. You can wait in my room."

Kitty nods and follows Marley into her house. It's her first time there, but she locates where her bedroom is and navigates through the cramped rooms to sit down on Marley's bed. Looking around, she notices a strange cabinet tucked away into a tight corner. She hadn't noticed it there before… Multiple files stick out of the crack where it opens. What could Marley have in there? She bites her lip and glances at the door. Marley would only be a little while longer, but it couldn't hurt to look…_ No,_ she thinks. _It's an invasion of privacy. Your parents would be disappointed._

But soon Kitty forgets about her parents because honestly, curiosity is getting the best of her right now. She stands up and tiptoes over to the cabinet. She feels silly; of course Marley can't hear her. Kitty grabs the handle and pulls slowly, wincing as the metal groans and whines. Not the best sounds for a covert mission. Either way, she takes a deep breath and grabs the first file she sees.

When she flips open the cover of the manila folder, she is, to say the least, surprised at what she sees. There's a picture of a flower. Shamelessly, Kitty categorizes it as a peony, remembering the tiny knowledge of gardening her mom had shared with her when they were still close. It's not in color, but she can tell it's one of the lighter colors by the shading. She's impressed. She had no idea Marley was a photographer. Turning the folder back over, she sees that it's labeled "❀Flowers❀". Kitty furrows her brow and looks back at the other files.

She's gone through two more, labeled respectively "Buildings" and "Animals" and filled with beautiful monochrome photographs by the time she notices one labeled with only an intricate ornate yet loopy heart. Looks personal. Kitty doesn't stick to her boundaries. She's reaching for it when the door opens to reveal a nervously-excited-looking Marley.

"Hey, you ready to g — …" She trails off as she notices the photos strewn across her bed. Her eyes flitted from the cabinet to Kitty and she wishes the ground would just open up and swallow her whole because that 'curiosity killed the cat' thing is really starting to make sense right now.

"M-Marley… Uhm…" She stutters, looking down at her hands, ashamed. "I was just…" Kitty sighs and gives up. "Y-You… look great?" It wasn't a lie, not at all, but she knew that the other girl was aware of her previous actions.

"Kitty…" Marley swallows. "What are you doing?..." Guilt flows into Kitty's stomach and she winces as she looks back down at the very-personal-looking heart file.

"I was… I was just…" She looks back at Marley with a hopeful look on her face. "Uh… These are really nice?"

Marley lets out a laugh and her shoulders relax with her face. Kitty sighs in relief.

"Sure… I took those back when I _thought_ I was a good photographer…" Marley's smile falters, but only for a millisecond, before she moves to go sit down next to Kitty on the bed. Kitty quickly flips the file over so that she can't see which one she's picked out.

"No… really. These are good. Great, even," She smiles. "Amazing." And they are.

Marley chuckles again. "Yeah, yeah. Which one have you got there?" She leans over and reaches for the file, to which Kitty immediately pulls away nervously. Marley looks at her, dumbfounded.

"Uh… Just… One of the files, heh."

It's obvious that the brunette won't take only that as the answer. She snatches it before Kitty can move it away and her eyes widen as she sees the label.

"Oh, er… maybe you shouldn't look at this one." Okay, now Kitty _has _to see it. She doesn't think those boundaries she was talking about earlier exist anywhere in this world anymore.

"Awh, come on. Pleaase?" She looks at her with puppy – or should I say kitten? – eyes before bribing her. "I'll give you a kiss."

Marley blushes profusely; they hadn't kissed yet. In fact, she hadn't kissed anyone before. But she refused to let Kitty see her private pictures; that made her pout even harder and made her even more determined to see them.

So somehow, Kitty ends up pinning her down after a small game of keep-away. She does a silly victory dance before quickly opening the file and letting her mind process the first photo.

Another black and white photograph. It doesn't take long for Kitty to recognize it as a candid of herself. It's perfect; the lighting causes contrast in all the right places and the camera is completely focused. She immediately falls in love with it. However, one thing bothers her. When did Marley take this? Kitty certainly doesn't remember doing anything like a photo shoot, and this picture only looks a couple years old. Kitty moves the photo aside to see another one. It, too, is of her – this one, she's laughing, but it's one of her fake smiles, she recognizes. She sees that beside her is another Cheerio, who was probably making up some lame story about a party that had more than likely never happened. Kitty wonders how she didn't notice the other girl taking the pictures.

"Marley…" Kitty says as she shuffles through the rest of the pictures, her jaw dropped in awe. "… These are amazing! How did you take these?"

Marley looks up at her meekly from the ground. "You… don't find it creepy…?"

Kitty just shakes her head and looks at her expectantly.

Marley sighs in relief. "My mom got me a really nice black and white film camera for Christmas a few years ago. I thought I would be a photographer in eighth grade. Then I started to realize how bad I really was…" She laughs before continuing. "I guess… I guess I just couldn't resist taking pictures of you. You were just so… _beautiful._ I wanted to capture every moment, every emotion…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "I'm sorry. This is probably sounding _really_ weird and creepy and stalkerish."

Kitty laughs and looks into Marley's blue eyes. "No, no. It's actually really adorable."

"It is _not,_" Marley says, though the joy dancing in her eyes is obvious. Especially for Kitty, considering how lost she is in them. She looks back at the photos. There's one of her coming off the bus, of her walking out of school, one of her singing as she did her homework outside during lunch…

"You can take some of them, if you like…" Marley says quietly. Kitty looks up to meet her gaze and grins cheerfully.

"Really?" She goes back to the first photo, admiring the quality once more before pocketing it and standing up. Marley nods, standing up as well. "Ready to go?"

"Yup," Marley shows off her glowing smile again as she fixes her shirt.

"Bring the camera," Kitty is blurting out the words before she can stop them. She wants to capture their moments, though, so she lets them reach the brunette's ears, not attempting to take them back.

Marley grabs it without hesitation from where it lay on her nightstand. "So, where are you taking me?"

Kitty shrugs, returning the smile from before. "Hope you like pizza."

"Snow!"

Kitty scoffs as she walks out of the building. To be honest, she's just glad they've finally left the grease-filled place. She had settled on walking to a large pizzeria in what could be considered downtown Lima. The blonde would have almost immediately thrown her hands in the air, turned around, and hightailed it out of there if it weren't for Marley, who was licking her lips hungrily at the sight of the food on display. She had surrendered and sat down at a table that seemed remotely clean enough for them to sit at. No, she wasn't being prissy about it because she was a germophobe, and it definitely wasn't that she cared about Marley's health. Nope. Definitely not. She had to admit afterwards it was nice, just being able to talk to the girl without interruption by insults. She knew that no one would she knew from school would come there as there were ridiculous rumours about the staff that she knew were not true but everyone else seemed to believe. After finishing their food – which Kitty had insisted on paying for, and for more than one reason, excuse you – Marley had gasped and squealed at the sight outside the windows and pretty much sprinted out of the restaurant to twirl around in the falling flurries.

"You obviously didn't notice. It started about fifteen minutes ago." Marley turns around to look at Kitty from where she stands, donning a huge childish grin.

"I was a bit distracted by your face." Kitty stepped down into the snow with a crunch and a wince at the cold temperature, raising her eyebrows as she processes Marley's statement.

"Couldn't blame you." The blonde called out, watching her breath come out in clouds and frowning.

"What?" Marley furrows her brow. "Do you not like snow?" When Kitty doesn't answer, her jaw drops. "Oh my gosh, you don't, do you? How could you not like _snow_?"

"Well, it's not that - " Kitty is cut off by a blast of cold crystals in her face. Now it's her turn to let her mouth fall open. She raises a hand to wipe the icy flakes off her skin before opening her eyes to be met by a bright, white flash. Marley moves the camera out of the way, desperately trying to hold back her giggles yet failing.

"Caught that one on camera," She gasps out between laughs, "You should've seen your…" but her face immediately falls when she sees the look in Kitty's eyes.

"You are so gonna get it, Rose." She starts towards Marley who squeals, stuffing the camera in the bag before throwing it aside and starting to run, but it's no match for the many harsh Cheerios practices the cheerleader has had to endure. Kitty finds herself thanking Coach Sue for once as she catches up with the brunette easily and tackles her to the ground. They end up rolling down a small hill in their excessive giggles and squeaks before coming to a stop, Kitty rolling on top of Marley to pin her down before panting with a smirk. "I win."

They lay like that for a while, the blonde staring down at the brunette whose chest rises and falls as they both regain their breath. They find themselves lost in each other's eyes, not breaking contact or moving at all as a blush spreads across Marley's cheeks. The cheerleader realizes this is the second time they have turned out in this position tonight, but this time it's lasting a lot longer as each waited for the other to do or say something. Kitty lifts a hand and hesitantly wipes a few snowflakes off of the singer's face before brushing the hair that fell in front of her blue eyes behind her ear. _It's now or never,_ she thinks before she leans down and closes the gap between their lips.

It's soft and sweet and just plain amazing and it doesn't take long to realize that the other girl's lips are moving right along with hers. It doesn't take long to realize that her hands are coming up to rest on her hips. It doesn't take long to realize that she's smiling into her. It doesn't take too long to realize that _ohmygod _Marley Rose was kissing her back.

No matter how much either one of them doesn't want to stop, the need for air cuts them off and they find themselves once again panting and staring affectionately and grinning.

"So, this means you're my girlfriend, right?"

Kitty rolls her eyes playfully.

"Shut up and kiss me."


End file.
